Parents filed civil lawsuit against teacher, Placer Union High School District

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Updated: 12:01 AM PST Nov 29, 2017

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WEBVTT REPORTS THE GIRL'S PARENTS AREDETERMINED TO MAKE SURE THISDOESN'T HAPPEN TO ANOTHERSTUDENT.>> I SAID HOLD ON, WHAT DID HESAAND SHE SAID HE WANTS TO TAKEHER ON A CAMPING TRIP.NATALIE: A SERIES OF TEXTS FROMA DEL ORO HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERASKING TO TAKE JACOB'S16-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER ON APRIVATE CAMPING TRIP SET OFF REDFLAGS.>> I SAID NO WAY WHAT'S GOING ONHERE.SO IMMEDIATELY WE START CHECKINGTHE PHONE RECORDS AND SAW THEVOLUME OF THE TEXTING NATALIE: USING SOFTWARE TORETRIEVE DELETED TEXTS, JACOBAND HIS WIFE SAY THEY UNCOVEREDTHOUSANDS OF INTIMATE MESSAGES,.>> WE FIND STUFF LIKE I LOVEYOU, I WANT YOU TO LIVE AT MYHOUSE, HUGS THAT IMMOBILIZE YOURBODY, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 5:00,6:00 A.M. EVERY DAY.NATALIE: JACOB AND HIS WIFECONTACTED PLACER COUNTY DEPUTIESAND THE SCHOOL DISTRICT, BOTHLAUNCHED INVESTIGATIONS, AND THETEACHER WAS PLACED ON AMONTH-LONG ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE.BUT THE SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENTSAYS IT NEVER FOUND EVIDENCE OFCRIMINAL MISCONDUCT SO NO, NOW THE GIRL'S PARENTS ARE-- NO CHARGES WERE FILED.NOW THE GIRL'S PARENTS AREFILING A CIVIL LAWSUIT.>> TO PROTECT OUR CHILD WEREMOVED HER FROM THE SCHOOL ANDDEL ORO SEEMS TO THINK IT'S MOREIMPORTANT HE KEEPS HIS JOB ANDTHAT'S WHY MY DAUGHTER IS WHERESHE'S AT NOW.WHICH IS SUFFERING FOR THE RESTOF HER SENIOR YEAR.NATALIE: JACOB SAYS HE DOESN'TKNOW FOR SURE IF ANYTHINGPHYSICAL EVER HAPPENED, BUT THEMESSAGES WERE EXTREMELYPERSONAL.>> YOU KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT MENOW.YOUR'E TELLING MY DAUGHTER RYOULOVE HER IN THE MIDDLE OF THENIGHT, I MEAN WHAT ARE YOUTRYING TO DO?NATALIE: JACOB BELIEVES THETEACHER SHOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED.PLACER UNION HIGH SCHOOLDISTRICT SENT US THIS STATEMENT,THE SAFETY AND WELLBEING OF OURSTUDENTS IS OF THE UTMOSTIMPORTANCE AND OVERARCHINGPRIORITIES TO THE DISTRICT ANDTHESE ALLEGATIONS ARE TAKEN VERYSERIOUSLY.DISTRICT PROTOCOL IS TO NOTCOMMENT ON POTENTIAL LITIGATION.>> IT'S DEVASTATING, SHE WILLNEVER BE THE SAME.THIS IS THE FIRST MAN WHO EVERTOLD HER HE LOVED HER.IT'S HER HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER.NATALIE: THE SCHOOL DISTRICTTELLS ME THE TEACHER IS STILLACTIVELY TEACHING AT THE SCHOOL

A series of text messages from a Del Oro High School teacher asking permission to take Jacob's 16-year-old daughter on a private camping trip set off alarms.

"I said, 'What's going on here?' So immediately, we start checking the phone records and saw the volume of the texting," said Jacob, whose last name is not being used to protect the family's privacy.

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Jacob said the teacher had been pressing his wife since January to allow their daughter to go on the camping trip with the teacher and his wife.

When Jacob looked at his daughter's phone, some messages appeared to have been deleted. He then used software to recover the deleted message.

What he found: Thousands of intimate messages over several months.

"We find stuff like, 'I love you,' 'I want you to live at my house,' 'Hugs that immobilize your body,' at 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 a.m.," Jacob said. "I mean, I counted 44 text messages in one hour. He was texting her during school hours when she's supposed to be paying attention to her other teachers."

Jacob and his wife contacted the Placer County Sheriff's Office and the Placer Union High School District. They said both launched separate investigations and the teacher was placed on a month-long administrative leave.

The sheriff's office said detectives never found evidence of criminal misconduct, so the teacher was not arrested and no charges were filed.

Eventually, the teacher returned to school and resumed his teaching duties.

Now, the 16-year-old's parents, who relocated the family to another county, have filed a civil lawsuit against the teacher and the school district, claiming sexual harassment and emotional distress.

"To protect our child, we removed her from the school and Del Oro seems to think it's more important he keeps his job," Jacob said. "That's why my daughter is where she's at now -- which is suffering for the rest of her senior year. It's changed her whole life. She's alienated from her friends. I mean, we had to move from the community."

Jacob said he doesn't know for sure if anything physical ever happened between his daughter and the teacher, but the messages were extremely personal.

Some of the texts listed in the lawsuit include:

"Do you want to text-cry on me? I can be quiet and I'm wearing a comfortable shirt to cry on."

"Does he know that you have kinda adopted me as a confidant? And that you speak to me about things that you sometimes have trouble sharing with others?"

"I'm glad you came along fairly early in my career."

"I remember being very interested in you right away."

"*whispers* I hope your Friday is better than your Thursday. I love you."

"'You know everything about me now,'" Jacob said, reading another text aloud. "You're telling my daughter you love her in the middle of the night. I mean, what are you trying to do?"

Jacob believes the teacher should have been fired.

Placer Union High School District released the following statement:

“The safety and wellbeing of our students is of the utmost importance and overarching priorities to the District and these allegations are taken very seriously. At this time, the PUHSD has not been served with this alleged/potential lawsuit and are, therefore, unaware of the litigation. District protocol is to not comment on potential litigation and the district is adhering to that protocol.”

KCRA tried to reach out to the teacher directly, but he did not respond.

"It's devastating. She will never be the same," Jacob said. "This is the first man who ever told her he loved her -- and it's her high school teacher."